The Perfect Anna
by julliet15
Summary: Everyone expects Anna to be just like her sister, but the fact of the matter is that no matter how hard she tries, she can't. Meanwhile, she has to choose between the dashing but clueless Prince Hans and the gruff but sweet Kristoff Bjorgman. (AU fic)
1. First Impressions

**I'm going to warn you right now, there is a teeny bit of OOC-ness in this FanFiction due to it being an AU, so if that annoys you, you shouldn't read this. I don't personally hold anything against the canon King and Queen from Frozen (they were doing what _they_ thought was best, even though it wasn't). However, I did make them a wee bit more… traditional. You'll understand when you read this chapter.**

* * *

Honestly, it shouldn't have taken Anna more that a few minutes to sneak out of the castle, but there was always a small part of her that wondered what it was like to be a top secret spy. So, with all the unnecessary somersaults and the humming of suspenseful music tacked on, it was a full fifteen minutes before she was safely outside. Anna pulled the hood over her face so that she could only see a few feet in front of her - perhaps not the smartest idea for the klutziest princess in the world, but she had no choice. She couldn't risk anyone recognizing her while she took her day trip. It was her only moment of freedom from all those tutors, officials and servants demanding her attention. Elsa was the Queen, so why was Anna being put under all this duress? It simply didn't make sense. Despite knowing that it was best not to attract attention, Anna's giddiness at seeing the sun for the first time in what seemed like weeks began to express itself in the skip in her step. Under her breath she was singing a song about first love, dreaming of finding the perfect Prince Charming, who would be so graceful and regal that it would easily rub off on her; then, finally, she would no longer be so awkward and would stop inadvertently embarrassing her sister in front of diplomats and the like. Anna didn't know how, but she could sense that soon she was going to meet that special prince, and then they would both live happily ever after.

At the moment she was thinking this, Anna ran into something that felt like a solid - and furry - wall, and let out a shriek of surprise. Her arms flew over the top of the wall and she gripped on with all her tiny might for a few moments, breathing heavily to catch up on the wind that had been knocked out of her. Suddenly the wall she was leaning against snorted, causing Anna to make another noise of alarm and to lift up her strawberry blond head. When she stepped back, she finally realized that she was looking at a large, shaggy-furred reindeer with a perplexed expression on its face. Anna gasped with delight and automatically began gently scratching behind the reindeer's ear, which made the reindeer very pleased.

"Sorry for running into you, buddy," apologized Anna.

The reindeer nudged her affectionately as if to say, "_No harm done_."

Anna fished inside her pocket for a carrot, which she was going to feed her horse in the stable, until she decided to walk instead of ride for the day. When she extended the bright orange vegetable, the reindeer's eyes widened and he stamped his hoof excitedly. Anne giggled, fed him the carrot, and petted him some more.

"Hopefully this makes up for me bumping into you," said Anna as the reindeer crunched his snack.

"What are you doing with Sven?" demanded a deep, gruff voice from behind Anna.

Startled, Anna turned around to see a tall, bulky, and annoyed blond man with arms crossed and face frowning.

"O-oh, is that his name?" stammered Anna nervously. "Heh, a cute name for a cute reindeer."

"Sven is not _cute_," responded the man, sneering at what he clearly deemed too baby of a term for his loyal steed.

"Oh, well, sorry," shrugged Anna, who then turned to Sven. "It was very nice to meet you, Sven."

Sven licked Anna's cheek, and she giggled - while the man just rolled his chocolate brown eyes.

"A girl gives him one carrot, and he's falling all over her," muttered the man, just loud enough for Anna to hear.

Anna blew her bangs out of her eyes and huffed. "You have wonderful manners, Mr…"

"Bjorgman. Kristoff Bjorgman," responded the man gruffly.

Since it didn't seem that he cared to know her name from the awkward pause that followed, Anna nodded and waved Sven goodbye. Kristoff watched her continue prancing around the various villagers going about their daily duties, something which she clearly wasn't worried about. He vaguely wondered if somewhere her family was frantically looking for her, the runaway girl who probably had her head in the clouds way too often.

A snort from Sven interrupted Kristoff's thought, and Kristoff, narrating in his voice, said, "_Well, she's cute_."

"Really?" Kristoff said in his normal voice. "I didn't notice."

Sven's smirk didn't need narration to explain what he was thinking, and it annoyed the heck out of Kristoff.

"C'mon, let's get back to work," urged Kristoff. "We haven't even made it through half of our deliveries."

* * *

"Princess, where have you been?" Kai asked Anna as soon as she streaked past him in the corridor leading to her room.

Anna skidded to a halt and chuckled guiltily. "Oh you know, just out and about."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "I don't think your sister will like that, considering she's been looking for you all day."

"Right, uh where is she?"

"In her study."

"Okay, thanks!"

Anna knocked on the door to Elsa's study, and she opened it as soon as she heard "Come in!" When Anna entered, Elsa first sighed with relief and then frowned, prepared to give a good scolding.

"Anna, where have you been?" she asked exasperatedly.

Anna clasped her small hands behind her back and scraped the floor with the sole of her boot. "In the town."

"Again? Anna, the Duke of _Weselton_ came knocking on our door again."

Anna snorted. "You mean the Duke of Weasel Town?"

Anna could tell that Elsa was fighting back a smile. "Don't make me laugh, I'm supposed to be angry with you."

"Hey, Kai was the one to come up with that nickname, not me."

"Nevertheless, he was badgering me _all day_ so that I couldn't get any actual work done."

"What did he want this time?"

"My hand in marriage."

Anna immediately bubbled up with laughter, but Elsa's face didn't change throughout her giggle fit.

"W-wait you're serious?" questioned Anna.

"He's a duke, he's rich, it just 'made sense.'"

"You said no, right?"

"Of course I did. But, if mom and dad were still alive, they would have encouraged me to accept."

"No! Elsa, they wouldn't make you do such a thing!"

"Anna, you have to remember that our parents were _very_ old-fashioned. I'm not saying they would have forced me to marry him, but if no one else suitable came along, they certainly wouldn't have frowned upon the marriage."

Anna shuddered. "Well, the good thing is that you don't need to marry him."

"Yes, but it would have been nice to have you distract him while I ran the kingdom for the day."

Elsa's pointed look caused Anna to duck her head bashfully. "That... might have been why I escaped while I still could."

Elsa gasped in mock shock and swatted a giggling Anna with a scroll. "You little sneak!"

Anna continued to laugh, gleefully and without a thread of shame woven in.

"You disgust me, get out of my study!" ordered Elsa in false anger.

"Fine by me," replied Anna before sashaying out of Elsa's study, with her elder sister shaking her head the whole time.

* * *

**I saw a deleted scene from Frozen where Anna is trying on Elsa's dresses, and I loved the sisterly interaction between her and Elsa so much that I tried to imitate it in this FanFiction. Much more sister stuff and Kristanna fluff to come! Feel free to review.**


	2. A Ride Into Town

**More Kristanna now. :P**

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The next time Anna saw Kristoff Bjorgman, she was in the stables coddling her sweet, white-haired mare after helping the kitchen staff bake cookies. She was dressed far more casually than the usual princess standards, since the seamstress warned her that if she ripped or dirtied one more ballroom gown, she was getting stabbed by a needle. So, scuffed black boots, a messy apron, and a plain brown dress were the fashion choice for the day. Elsa didn't need any extra help with queenly duties (usually she was on top of them anyway) and the tutors had the day off, so Anna was free for the next 24 hours. Anna turned from her mare to fetch a brush, when she bumped into a large, furry nose that she knew couldn't be her horse's - no horse can move _that_ fast. Anna blinked and realized that she had run into the eager Sven, who sniffed her in search of the beloved carrot scent.

"Oh, hey there!" Anna cheerily greeted. "Where's your grumpy ol' owner?"

"Sven?" called Kristoff, who stopped as soon as he entered the stable and caught Anna's gaze. "What are you doing here?"

"What's your reindeer doing here?" retorted Anna, who didn't appreciate Kristoff's tone.

Kristoff deflated, and had the decency to look apologetic. "Sorry. I was unloading the ice, and the next thing I know, he's gone."

"Well no harm done," replied Anna, who began feeding Sven a carrot.

Kristoff nodded, and silence ensued while Anna fondled Sven's ears and Sven chewed happily.

"So… do you work here?" asked Kristoff, if for no other reason that to make small talk.

"Uh… you could say that," responded Anna vaguely.

"Hmph, well by the looks of that apron around your waist you actually work in the kitchen," guessed Kristoff, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh, any chance I get!" exclaimed Anna, a little too excitedly.

Kristoff smirked and Anna coughed awkwardly into her small fist.

"All right, part-time kitchen staff," said Kristoff, "what are you doing in the stables?"

"Heh, just showing the animals here some love," Anna chuckled weakly.

"Hey, I won't tell," promised Kristoff. "Just hand me my reindeer back and we'll be off making more ice deliveries."

"Oh, can I come?"

Kristoff blinked. "What?"

"Please please please!" begged Anna. "I'm lots of fun, I promise!"

"And lots of trouble, no doubt," quipped Kristoff. "Don't you have a job?"

"Oh no, I'm done with the kitchen today," assured Anna.

"I don't know… Are you sure you won't get in trouble?"

Anna paused. "Give me _one second_, and I'll make sure it's okay." She ran a few steps, and turned back to give Kristoff a warning glare. "Stay put."

Instead of replying, Kristoff merely rolled his eyes and gestured for her to get a move on. Satisfied, Anna ran into the castle in search of her sister, who was talking to Kai in the throne room. Anna, gasping for breath, burst through the doors calling Elsa's name, and her sister raised a light blond eyebrow inquisitively.

"Can I help distribute ice in the town today?" questioned Anna.

"Ice?" repeated Elsa.

"Yeah, with the guy who delivers our ice."

"Anna, I can't let you go wandering around the town with a stranger."

"Kristoffer isn't a stranger."

Elsa paused. "Wait, the ice deliverer… his name is Kristoff, not Kristoffer!"

"Oh whatever, close enough," dismissed Anna. "And besides, you seem to know him."

"Hardly," replied Elsa. "I've met the man only a few times. I'm just very good with names."

"Oh Elsa please, he has the cutest little reindeer - well, okay so he's not that little and Kristoff said not to call him 'cute,' but I still think he is and I'd love to see people - "

"Okay, okay," said Elsa. "If you really must to go, then I'd feel better if Kai accompanied you."

"No," pleaded Anna. "I don't want him to make things awkward."

"I think you do a good enough job of that on your own, dear princess," noted Kai humorously.

Anna scoffed, but then she smiled good-naturedly. "Point taken, but would you mind, I don't know, babysitting _from a distance_?"

Elsa turned to Kai and asked, "Do you think you can do that, Kai?"

"Certainly, your Majesty," responded Kai with a respectful bow.

"Okay, let's go," urged Anna. "We can't keep Kristoff and Sven waiting."

When Anna returned, she realized Kristoff hadn't followed her orders and was trying to get Sven to leave. Thankfully, the reindeer was bent on spending more time with the girl who enjoyed spoiling him as much as he liked to be spoiled, and refused to go with Kristoff. Anna called Kristoff's name, and Kristoff moaned a little; he didn't need this girl slowing him down on his deliveries, but if she and Sven were going to be this persistent, he might as well give in.

* * *

"So what's it like being an ice harvester?" inquired Anna.

"Uh…" stammered Kristoff, scratching the back of his neck. "Cold?"

"That's poetic," Anna commented sarcastically.

"I'm not good with words, all right?" snapped Kristoff defensively.

"It's your life's work, isn't it? I'd hope you like it enough to speak passionately about it."

"I do. It's just hard to explain, the feeling I get every time my pickaxe pounds into the heart of the mountain ice. The… the invigorating burn of the wind on my face, and the last rays of sunlight glinting off the mountainside… I can't quite put it all into words."

Anna chuckled. "I think you just did."

Kristoff smiled uncertainly. "What about you? What's kitchen duty like?"

"Oh you know, lots of flour, a couple of burns - err, maybe a lot of burns - and wonderful smells."

"I can imagine. Do you ever get the temptation to do a lot of taste testing?"

"Definitely. My hand gets smacked every other minute for it."

Kristoff laughed, but his humor came to an abrupt halt when concern marched into his face.

"What?" asked Anna.

"I feel like someone's following us," responded Kristoff warily.

"O-oh, I'm sure it's nothing," replied Anna nervously.

"Go, Sven!" ordered Kristoff, who turned to Anna and added, "Hang on, we like to go fast."

The cart Kristoff and Anna were sitting in lurched forward when Sven kicked his powerful leg muscles into overdrive, but it only took a second for them to regain their composure.

"I like fast," commented Anna, who leaned back and and propped up her feet on the edge in front of her.

"Whoa whoa whoa, get your feet down," admonished Kristoff as he pushed her feet back down. "This is fresh lacquer. Seriously, were you raised in a barn?"

Kristoff spat on the wood (unfortunately the wind caused a little of his spit to assault Anna's right eye), and rubbed it down thoroughly.

"Ugh, no, I was raised in a castle," replied Anna.

Kristoff frowned and sat upright. "How could you be raised in a castle?"

"W-what, can't a servant's kid grow up in a castle along with princesses?" stuttered Anna.

"I guess so."

Anna puffed a sigh of relief; as long as Kristoff didn't know she was the princess of Arendelle, he wouldn't judge her for being too quirky, or weird, or awkward. The kitchen staff, now, they were allowed to goof off and be themselves. As a simple servant, Anna's clumsiness wouldn't come as a shock to Kristoff. Without the princess label, nothing like Elsa's regality was expected of her, and she liked it that way. Thankfully Anna had a cloth wrapped around her head and had a sufficient amount of flour on her face so as not to be recognized by the people they were delivering ice to. Just in case though, she stayed her distance while Kristoff chatted with his customers.

"Whoa, Sven," said Kristoff, shattering Anna's thoughs. "Last stop of the day."

"Already?" pouted Anna. "Can I help you carry the last delivery in?"

"You're lucky I even let you ride in my cart - which you had the gall to dirty with your muddy boots. I can only imagine what you would do to my sled."

"C'mon, please!" implored Anna, who hopped off the cart before Kristoff could stop her. "This block doesn't look too heavy."

"Are you kidding? I'll bet it weighs twice as much as you."

Ignoring Kristoff, Anna took hold of the ice block and pulled at it with all her tiny might, until droplets of sweat formed on her forehead and her breath came out in heavy puffs.

"You're gonna kill yourself," warned Kristoff.

"All right, I'm just gonna block you out, cause I gotta concentrate here."

Kristoff shook his head, gently lifted Anna up and out of his way, and picked up the ice block on the first try.

"Some of… the weight… must have… melted off," gasped Anna as she pressed her hand to her chest.

"Yeah, yeah," agreed Kristoff sarcastically. "I'll be back. Don't destroy anything."

"_The guy's barely spent a day with me, and he already knows my tendency towards disaster,_" Anna thought.

When Kristoff came back, he offered Sven a carrot as reward for a full day's labor. Sven chomped down, and when Kristoff reminded him to share, he proffered the other end of the carrot in his mouth. Kristoff grinned, took the carrot and bit down as well; noticing Anna standing off to the side (with her nose crinkled in disgust), Kristoff offered her the last remaining bites of the vegetable.

"Yuck! No thanks, that's too unsanitary," said Anna; she was unable to get over the fact that a reindeer partook of the carrot, although it was just Kristoff who took the last bite of it.

Kristoff's shoulders collapsed, and he looked at the end of the carrot like he had never before considered what Anna pointed out. He didn't even know why he offered it to Anna; until now, that was purely a Sven-and-Kristoff ritual, and all of a sudden he was inviting some feisty redhead to start participating? What was he thinking?

"Sorry," muttered Kristoff, who halfheartedly returned the carrot to Sven.

"Hey, you do want you want," urged Anna, who felt bad seeing the crestfallen expression on Kristoff's face. "You don't need to apologize for it."

Kristoff's brown eyes met Anna's bright, reassuring blue eyes, and he couldn't resist the smile tweaking his mouth.

"Let's get you home," said Kristoff. "Where do you live?"

Anna's eyes widened in panic, and to make matters worse, Kai ran into the scene in a frenzy.

"Oh, Princess Anna!" cried Kai. "Thank goodness you're safe."

"Princess?" echoed Kristoff confusedly

Anna cringed with shame as realization dawned on Kristoff's features.

"Princess Anna," he said in a betrayed tone.

His eyes narrowed, and Anna's lower lip quivered when Kristoff began climbing onto the cart without another word. He snapped the reigns and said, "Go, Sven," a command which the reindeer only reluctantly obeyed. Anna hastily rubbed off the tear running down her cheek and turned to the apologetic Kai.

"I'm so sorry, Princess Anna," apologized Kai. "I was worried because I lost sight of you. You were going so fast."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," replied Anna sadly. "Kristoff caught on that someone was following us, and he sped off before I could calm him down."

Kai nodded. "My horse is tied up over there. We can ride back on him."

* * *

**Oh, so sad! Do you think Kristoff will ever find it in himself to forgive her, or is their new friendship already over?**


	3. A Friendship Blossoms

**Wow, it took me so much longer to update than I thought it would. School decided to give me a pretty hard slap in the face this past week, so this is the first time I've had to breathe, let alone post a chapter. Oh well, read on.**

* * *

That lying little princess! She wormed her way into first Sven's brain, and then Kristoff's, and as soon as he let her in, he found out that she was a fake. Kitchen staff, indeed! She might seem sweet and quirky and downright adorable on the surface, but like everyone else, she was just another cheat. The worst part is that she really didn't seem the type, like she could have been the one person that didn't totally _suck_ like all the other human inhabitants of the earth. This was the last time Kristoff was going to let someone tag along on his ice deliveries, as he told an annoyed Sven repeatedly, right up to his next delivery to the castle.

"Kristoff Bjorgman?" said one of the castle servants.

Kristoff, who was about to unload the ice, stopped midway and winced; he had a feeling this wasn't going to be good.

"Yes?" asked Kristoff.

"The queen requests your presence immediately," informed the servant.

"Wonderful," grumbled Kristoff, rubbing his haggard face with his large hand.

Kristoff, with tensed muscles and a polite but nervous smile frozen on his face, followed the servant into the queen's throne room. Royal blue banners with white embroidering hung proudly on the walls, complementing with the glittering, sky blue dress flowing down from the queen's shoulders to her small white feet. Kristoff made a clumsy bow, and the queen, always keeping her frame straight and her head erect, slowly, gracefully approached him. Her scrutinizing azure gaze loaded pound after pound of pressure onto Kristoff's shoulders until he started babbling, which he always did when nervous.

"Your Majesty, I had no idea Anna - _Princess_ Anna - was your sister, otherwise I would've never taken her a foot away from the castle. I-I know I probably should've figured out sooner who she really was, but - "

"Kristoff," interrupted the queen, who, much to Kristoff's chagrin, was obviously trying to suppress a laugh, "it's all right. My sister told me everything. You're not in trouble."

"Oh," murmured Kristoff. "Then if you don't mind me asking, why did you ask to see me?"

"Because my sister has been moping around the castle ever since you left."

"She has?" Kristoff's eyes were wide with surprise, and a faint smile lifted his face.

"Yes," confirmed the queen. "She said something along the lines of 'I lost the best chance I ever had to have a friend outside of the castle' - which, as her sister, I find very sad."

"So… what are you asking me to do?"

"Nothing. I mean I can't _make_ you be her friend, obviously."

"I don't know about that. You could, if you threatened to decapitate me or something."

The queen laughed. "Well, if I did that, what sort of friend would you be?"

Kristoff nodded, and after a pause, the queen dismissed him. He thought hard about what Queen Elsa had said to him, and whether or not he should try to find Anna and make up with her. From her sister's perspective, she seemed to have been really sorry about lying to him, which Kristoff genuinely appreciated. However, he was still hesitant to start a friendship with Anna for several reasons: (1) she was a princess, (2) he was an ice harvester, and (3) he really just wasn't a people person. Reindeers, ice, and trolls were definitely more his speed - mostly because he'd never known them to lie, cheat, or steal. Regular people were… difficult and complicated and crazy. Anna was merely Exhibit A of that. Yet, he couldn't seem to stop thinking about her, and her sweet, awkward little smile whenever she said or did something embarrassing, and the smattering of freckles on her pink cheeks… Kristoff grinned just thinking about her.

"Kristoff!" called a breathless female voice.

Kristoff turned around and saw Anna running down the stairs in a desperate rush toward him; she had almost reached the bottom step when she tripped - Kristoff didn't know on what - and plummeted straight towards a bewildered Kristoff. He instinctively held his arms out and caught her in a firm embrace, holding her until she had recovered her footing. Not seeming to notice their extremely close position, Anna beamed up at Kristoff and brightly greeted him with a "Hello!"

"Hi," murmured a blushing Kristoff, who quickly unwound himself from Anna.

"So, I'm sorry about lying about being a princess and all. It's just that it always seems to scare people off or make them treat me weird, and I didn't want that to happen all over again. Plus, Sven is really sweet and I like feeding him carrots even though I think it's gross to share them with him - not that you can't do that of course - "

"Anna!" interrupted Kristoff. "Do you always babble like this?"

"Only when I'm nervous," answered Anna bashfully as she tucked a curl behind her ear. "So, basically, I'm really sorry that I didn't tell you the truth."

"It's all right," responded Kristoff. "I understand now why you did."

"Friends?" inquired Anna, who held out her hand hopefully.

Kristoff shook her hand, so gently it was as if he thought her hand was made out of glass.

"Friends," confirmed Kristoff. "Do you want to see Sven?"

Anna gasped. "Would I!"

After that, Kristoff would knock on the castle doors every time he was in town, and Anna would take him on a tour through the chambers, the stables, the passageways and secret nooks of the castle premises. They never ran out of places to explore, and if they were lucky, Elsa would let them drive around the town - and with no servant spying on them! Kristoff always saved his castle delivery for last, that way they wouldn't have to worry about him needing to be on the job; Anna always did her work ahead of time (an unheard of tradition until her friendship with Kristoff began) so they wouldn't have to worry about a tutor or advisor chasing them down. Ever since Anna discovered that Kristoff owned a lute, she would make him play it for her every time he visited, and she would rave and rave about his beautiful playing until Kristoff was redder than a ripe tomato. Kristoff would never tell Anna, but he actually made a song for her; well, technically it used to be the lullaby he would sing to Sven every night, but he changed the words in her honor, so that should count. He began teaching Anna how to play the lute when he got tired of her constantly demanding him to do it; it turned out that she had a true natural talent for it.

Kristoff, Anna, and Sven whittled the summer away with long sleigh rides, castle scoping, pilfering desserts from the kitchen, and lute practice. The train of autumn's gown of orange, yellow, and red leaves carried with it the precursor of the icy cold of winter, which was not long in arriving. Kristoff knew what this meant: his services would no longer be in high demand, and his family would be expecting him home for the holidays. So, his time with the spunky Anna would soon be over - at least for a season. He and Sven exchanged sad glances as they stood in front of the castle on the day Kristoff was to inform Anna of the situation. Unsurprisingly, Anna was already on the other side smiling (Kristoff had no idea she had so many teeth) when the guards opened the doors. She leaped into Kristoff's arms, but when she didn't feel him hug back right away, she knew something was up. Anna squinted at Kristoff while they walked towards the stables to get food for Sven, and Kristoff returned her odd look.

"What are you staring at me for?" inquired Kristoff.

"Something's off about you today," commented Anna thoughtfully. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh, well that's what I need to talk to you about," replied Kristoff, rubbing the nape of his neck. "Sven and I aren't going to be coming around anymore."

"What? Why? Did I do something wrong?" asked Anna, instantly beginning to tug at her braids in a typical nervous gesture.

"No," assured Kristoff, who lowered Anna's hands almost as soon as she had raised them. "It's because winter is coming, and, well, I won't really be needed when it does."

"Oh, I've thought about that already," dismissed Anna.

"You have?" asked Krisoff, taken aback.

"Yeah, and I was gonna tell you that if you were looking for work during the winter, one of the stable hands just quit."

"Really?"

"Yup! You could take over for him while we look for a replacement, and you'll earn a little cash to hold you over during the winter. That is, if you want to take the job…"

"Yeah, I'll take the job, it'll mean more time with you!"

What Kristoff said jolted both Kristoff and Anna with surprise.

"I-I, what I mean is - " stammered Kristoff " - i-it's been fun hanging out with you, and working here, you know, means that I'll see you, you'll see me, you'll see Sven, and uh… we'll hang out as friends, and um…"

Anna giggled. "Looks like I'm not the only one who babbles when nervous."

Kristoff's shoulders relaxed and he rolled his eyes playfully. "Okay, well… you know what I mean anyway."

"Yeah."

Kristoff and Anna shared a mutual smile, and for a moment both of them forgot their awkwardness, forgot their nervousness, and saw only the gaze of an understanding friend.

* * *

Kristoff's first day as a stable hand started off mildly well, with one of the servants showing him the ropes and Sven happily napping in one of the stalls. The thought of Anna's pretty blue eyes motivated him as he shoveled droppings and rubbed down horses for most of the day. When he had finished everything, a sweaty but pleased Kristoff waited at his usual spot for Anna to meet him. He waited a good ten minutes before Anna showed up, which alerted him that something was different about today; when Anna finally did come, wisps of hair had come free of her braids and her cheeks were flushed. All in all, she looked like a waitress in the middle of a lunch rush, which wasn't far from the truth.

"Elsa is going cuh-razy about the representatives from places like Corona and the Southern Isles coming tonight!" exclaimed Anna. "I'm sorry, but we won't be able to hang out today. I have to help Elsa."

"No no, that's fine, I understand," brushed off Kristoff, masking his disappointment with an easygoing smile.

"Okay," nodded Anna. "Say hi to Sven for me!"

"Will do," replied Kristoff.

Anna kept waving to Kristoff until he was out of sight, and then she zipped back into the fray of the castle in pursuit of her sister.

* * *

One could not count the number of instances that Anna wished Kristoff was with her as she shook and after hand in the long line of uptight diplomats. Even worse, the Duke of Weasel Town made a reappearance and spun her around the dance floor - even though the music hadn't started playing yet. Despite the oodles of chocolate that Elsa had so thoughtfully ordered to be served on the snack table in the ball room, Anna was bored. Sweets could only distract her fish-like attention span for so long, and Anna couldn't wait until Elsa finally called it off… or she had a chance to sneak off into her room and conk out. Anna was fully prepared to make an attempt to do so, when the mahogany doors swung open and allowed in the tallest, handsomest, most redheaded man Anna had ever witnessed. His green eyes aligned with her blue ones, and even though it lasted a mere second before someone dragged him into the crowd, Anna knew one thing: this man was going to change her life. Anna rose to her tip-toes to try to look over the heads of diplomats and find the mysterious man, screwing her face in concentration.

"What are you looking for?" a low, charming voice asked suddenly.

Anna gasped, for beside her was the very man she had been searching for.

"Oh, uh, nothing!" replied Anna, instinctively reaching for a braid that wasn't there, since she had done her hair up in a bun that day.

The man chuckled softly and bowed. "I'm Prince Hans of the Southern Isles."

Anna curtsied (she stumbled a bit, but she recovered!) and replied in a grand voice, "Princess Anna of Arendelle."

"Would you care to dance?" asked Hans, proffering a gloved hand.

"Would I!" exclaimed Anna, who smiled sheepishly after her overenthusiastic outburst and amended, "I mean, I would love to."

* * *

**For the record, in this fic Hans is not a total butthead. I know he's a jerk in canon and he's a jerk in a lot of Frozen FanFictions, but I wanted to explore what it would be like if he wasn't evil, you know? Hans is basically the OOCness I made a warning about in my A/N for the first chapter.**


	4. Meet Hans

**Now that Anna has met Hans, let's see how Kristoff reacts...**

* * *

Kristoff was brushing Sven's coat in the stables when Anna came bouncing in with an elated smile and sparkling blue eyes. She leaned over the wall of the stall, bit her lip, and tapped her foot, clearly dying to tell Kristoff something. Kristoff, however, was in a playful mood that day and wouldn't give in by asking her; instead, he continued to calmly brush the long fur of his reindeer, and even began to whistle a random tune to add to his nonchalance. Anna cleared her throat several times, and it took all of his willpower for him not to grin cheekily at her.

Finally, Anna huffed and said, "Don't you want to know how last night was?"

"With all those boring dignitaries?" asked Kristoff. "I think I can guess, but tell me anyway."

"I met someone!"

"Oh really? Who woulda thought, you met someone in a crowd of representatives from distant kingdoms!"

Anna groaned. "No, I mean I met a _someone_ someone. A handsome prince from the Southern Isles!"

"Wait, what?"

A strange, almost angry look took over Kristoff, but Anna was too busy gushing to realize this.

"Yeah, he's really sweet and charming and sophisticated," Anna enthused. "He loves chocolate fondue, horses, and ham and cheese sandwiches! Can he get any more perfect?"

"Well - "

"He wouldn't let anyone else dance with me, which was good because the Duke of Weasel Town really wanted another go, and after that we talked the whole night on a little balcony that let us see practically all the stars in the universe. It was the most romantic night of my life."

Kristoff grumbled something under his breath as he did the last stroke of Sven's fur.

"What was that?" inquired Anna.

"Nothing," sniffed Kristoff. "What's his name?"

"Hans," answered Anna with a giggle. "Isn't it such a cute name?"

Kristoff and Sven exchanged looks showing that it struck neither of them how "Hans" was a particularly cute name.

"Okay, so this Hans guy swept you off your feet for a night and now he's headed back to his kingdom?" questioned Kristoff.

"Nope, he'll be here for a whole week," Anna said excitedly.

"What? Why?"

"To court me."

"Court you? You just met!"

"So? The whole point of courting is to get to know each other. It's not like I agreed to _marry_ him or something."

"Yeah, but - "

"Anna?" called a male voice from the other side of the stables; Kristoff had a horrible feeling he knew who it belonged to.

"It's Hans!" squealed Anna.

"_Fears confirmed_," thought Kristoff.

"I'm over here, Hans!" cried Anna.

Hans, who wasn't quite as tall as Kristoff but had a thinner body type and a considerably smaller nose, sidled against Anna; Kristoff smiled weakly when Hans beamed amiably at him with perfect straight white teeth. Kristoff could hear Sven huff disapprovingly from behind him, and swallowed a grin.

"Hans, this is Kristoff," introduced Anna. "Kristoff, this is Hans."

Hans stretched out his hand and Kristoff reluctantly shook it.

"Anna has told me so much about you," commented Hans. "I was wondering when I'd get to meet you."

"Yes, for almost a fully twenty-four hours, right?" said Kristoff with mock enthusiasm.

Anna smacked Kristoff's arm, but Hans only laughed.

"It is a little bit quick, my relationship with Anna," admitted Hans. "I assure you though, you have nothing to worry about. I would never intentionally hurt Anna."

"So you admit you might _unintentionally_ hurt her," pointed out Kristoff, who looked like he was ready to punch Hans' perfect little nose into oblivion.

"Kristoff, relax," ordered Anna, whose well-placed hand on his shoulder calmed Kristoff's nerves, at least briefly.

Kristoff took a deep breath and said in a steadier voice, "So Anna tells me you'll be in Arendelle the rest of this week to court her."

"Is that what she said?" asked Hans, who glanced slyly at a blushing Anna. "While the courting part is true, it's not the only reason I'm staying. My brother and I have a lot of work to do to hash out the trading agreements."

"What's it like having a brother?" questioned Anna randomly.

"I have twelve, actually," answered Hans matter-of-factly. "My mom tried really hard for that princess."

"Oh, the poor thing," commented Anna sympathetically.

"At least she didn't have to deal with twelve older brothers always giving her a hard time growing up."

"Wow, that must've been hard."

"Sometimes, but you know how brothers are," shrugged Hans, looking directly at Kristoff. "They like pushing you around, but deep down they love you. They just don't know how to say it."

"Sometimes sisters don't know how to either," replied Anna in a sympathetic and sad tone.

Looks of concern began to dominate the features of both Hans and Kristoff, but especially Kristoff. However, Anna was quick to dispel their worries by giggling and saying, "Come on, Hans, I have to show you around the castle some more. Our first stop will be…"

"The kitchen!" Anna and Hans exclaimed simultaneously. "Jinx! Jinx again!"

The two of them chuckled like small, mischievous children, while Kristoff rolled his eyes.

"Goodbye, Kristoff!" exclaimed Anna, entwining her fingers with Hans'.

Kristoff waved them off with a broadest, stiffest smile he had ever made in his life.

As soon as they were gone, Kristoff said in the Sven voice, "_You really need to work on your fake smile._"

"I know," muttered Kristoff despondently.

* * *

Hans honestly couldn't have left quick enough, and Kristoff relished the sensation of his muscle tension easing and the fake smile falling off his face. Unfortunately, Anna kept up correspondence with Hans through letter-writing, and Kristoff had every letter from Hans about as well-memorized as Anna - thanks to frequent reading aloud on her part. However, with the help of distance, the novelty of the courtship eventually wore off, and Kristoff and Anna were allowed to return to their old friendship. The winter months rolled over the skies quicker than they had realized, and towards the end of the season they found someone to take over for Kristoff when he returned to ice harvesting. This got Kristoff thinking about asking Anna something he'd thought of for a while, but hadn't really figured out how to phrase. As it was, Kristoff still felt at a loss when he finally got some alone time with Anna on a day that she wasn't busy doing… princessy stuff or whatever. After an encouraging nose-nudge from Sven, Kristoff coughed to get Anna's intention as she helped him groom one of the horses.

"Anna, you know how you keep saying you want to know more about ice harvesting?"

"Yup," drawled Anna.

"I've been thinking that, maybe, if you have time, you could go with me on my first harvest of the season?" inquired Kristoff a bit nervously.

"Oh, Kristoff!" gasped Anna (Kristoff couldn't help but blush at the way she said his name - she just had that kind of effect on him). "I'd love to."

"Great," smiled Kristoff.

"The only thing is… I don't know if Elsa would be okay with it."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to say, she's invited too."

"Really?"

"Definitely," replied Kristoff. "Even though we've been friends for a while, I understand that the idea of us taking a day trip alone might still be sketchy for your sister."

"Oh no, I think she trusts you by now," brushed off Anna. "The only issue with her might be, well, queen stuff."

Kristoff shrugged. "It can't hurt to ask, right?"

"Right. I'll talk to her about it at lunch."

* * *

"So what do you think?" Anna asked Elsa after she explained Kristoff's proposal.

Elsa took a bite of greens and chewed thoughtfully for a few moments.

After she swallowed, Elsa replied, "It sounds kind of fun."

"Really?" questioned Anna in shock.

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

"I-I don't know, I guess I didn't think ice was your thing."

The silver fork that had punched through multiple lettuce leaves halted mid-way to Elsa's mouth, and she stayed in that position for a few seconds. Elsa lowered her fork and stared directly at Anna with flashing blue eyes.

"Trust me, I have a real affinity to ice," Elsa told Anna seriously.

"Oh. Okay," responded Anna obliviously. "Then you'll come?"

"If I can get a hold of the regent that ran things before I was crowned," answered Elsa.

"Yay!" squealed Anna. "I'll go tell Kristoff!"

Her half-eaten sandwich forgotten, Anna scampered out of the room and down the hall, presumably towards the stables. Elsa chuckled, thinking that if Anna spent any more time in that place, she would never be able to wash the smell of horse and reindeer off. Her humor faded when Elsa thought about what Anna said, about her not being that connected to ice. _If only Anna knew…_ Elsa shook her head as soon as the thought jumped into her brain, for she had decided many years ago that the less Anna knew, the better. She was safer that way.

* * *

**Reviews are kinda nice… :P**


	5. A Day of Ice

**As you must have figured out from the previous chapter, Elsa does still have her powers in this AU. However, her backstory is obviously still different from the canon version, as evidenced by the fact that she hasn't completely shut out Anna. In this fic, Elsa accidentally struck Anna with her magic like in canon, but this chapter explains how she gained better control of her powers.**

* * *

When Kristoff stirred Elsa and Anna up for their trip, not even the sky was awake yet (as Anna put it when she was awake enough to form coherent sentences). Luckily for Elsa, she was a morning person; from the grumpy frown on Anna's face for the first hour of their journey to the mountains, Anna was not. In the second hour, however, Elsa realized that Anna had fallen asleep on her shoulder and mercifully allowed her to continue sleeping until they arrived. The tip of her nose and the rims of her eyes were a little red, but Anna was in slightly better spirits when Elsa shook her awake. Kristoff hefted on his bag of tools with a grunt and gestured for the girls to follow him as he and Sven walked down to the frozen lake. A group of ice harvesters were already there, with saws out and muscle power loaded in their brawny arms. A couple of them looked up and frowned when they realized Kristoff and Sven were being accompanied by two young women - one of whom couldn't stop shivering.

Eying Elsa in amazement, Anna asked, "Aren't you freezing?"

"Oh, the cold never bothered me," brushed off Elsa.

_It's truer than Anna could ever know_, thought Elsa as her mind drifted to the deep recess of her mind, which held the memory of how Anna got the blond streak in her hair. Little Anna, already containing a bouncing energy unmatched by anyone, had begged Elsa to play with her - and finally succeeded when she played the snow man card. That day would be Elsa's last few moments of peace for many years, for when Elsa's icy magic made contact with Anna's head, Elsa was sure her sister was done for. Thanks to the trolls this wasn't the case, but after the incident Anna no longer remembered she had powers and her parents treated Elsa like a shut-in. It wasn't until Elsa was a teenager that she finally stood up to her mother and father.

_"Papa, I can't take this any more!" cried Elsa as ice crept up the bedroom wall behind her._

_"Elsa, Elsa, relax or you'll only make things worse," warned her father._

_"No, _you're_ making it worse!" wailed Elsa. "I feel like I haven't talked to my sister - or anyone - in years. Didn't that troll say that fear was my enemy? Yet all you guys are doing is promoting fear by keeping me locked away, and Anna has to suffer for it, too." Elsa sniffled. "Don't you guys… love me anymore?"_

_"Oh, darling," murmured her mother in a cracked voice. "Do you really think we don't love you?"_

_The king stretched out his hand towards Elsa, whose initial reaction was to flinch away from his touch. However, his move was persistent, and Elsa relaxed enough to let him cup her cheek and brush his thumb across it. The king smiled comfortingly and sadly at his daughter._

_"Elsa, we've only been trying to protect you," her father said gently. "People… aren't always so tolerant of someone who's different. We want you to have a normal life."_

_"That isn't possible, Papa," replied Elsa, who choked back a sob._

_Her father lowered his eyes and sighed. "Maybe it isn't. But…" He looked back up at Elsa with confidence in his countenance. "Even if it isn't, your mother and I still love you."_

_"Really?" asked Elsa._

_"Yes," assured the king and queen simultaneously._

_Before they knew it, the ice on the walls receded, and a huge smile broke out on Elsa's face._

_"I love you, too!" cried Elsa, flinging herself on her parents without fear._

"Boys, I've brought a little extra help today," announced Kristoff, breaking apart Elsa's flashback.

One of the younger ice harvesters scoffed. "What help? These ladies couldn't lift a pickaxe, let alone split the frozen heart."

Elsa and Anna traded looks that said, "This guy has to be joking."

Elsa turned to the tall, stocky young man and said aloud, "We'll see about that."

If anything, wearing the heavy winter furs was a burden to Elsa as she repeatedly stabbed the frozen water with a three-pronged metal tool. Elsa longed to shed her thick coat (and mittens, and hat), but that would only raise the eyebrows of all the ice harvesters as well as her sister. She would just have to tough it out. Anna, meanwhile, was pounding away at an ice block with a pickaxe (she had spent almost half an hour begging Kristoff to let her try it), but with little success. She simply did not have the strength to break apart the chunk of ice, but boy did she have the heart power to keep trying. Anna could be very stubborn when she wanted to be, as her elder sister well knew, and as Kristoff was figuring out every time Anna refused his aid. The ice harvester who had first mocked the sisters smirked at Anna, whose tongue stuck out a little as she made another strike at the ice (at least this time the dent got deeper).

"You see?" laughed the ice harvester. "This is not women's work. Look at how _this man_ can split the ice on one try, two tops!"

Anna scowled, but paused her work to watch the cocky ice harvester raise the pickaxe high over his head. Elsa, seething, subtly outstretched her hand towards the ice block as the ice harvester brought down the pickaxe once and lifted it up again for a second strike. Instantly, a swirl of magic from Elsa's hand, mixing with the mountain wind in an untraceable flurry, rebuilt most of the ice that the man had broken. Again and again this process was repeated until the ice harvester's breath was coming out in large clouds and his forehead was drenched with sweat. A smile was coming across Elsa's face, when she noticed Kristoff looking at her strangely. She wiped her good humor away with a more neutral expression (albeit it was still a little smug) and finally let up on the poor ice harvester. At this point, however, the ice harvester's efforts were so half-hearted that he barely scraped the surface with his heavy tool.

"I believe that was twenty-three tries, and still no split ice," Anna teased.

The ice harvester wiped his brow and sighed. "I don't understand what happened."

"Maybe you're not as strong as you think you are," responded Elsa. "Here, give me the pickaxe."

Reluctantly, the man obeyed her, and within a couple of wallops, Elsa had cracked the frozen heart.

"Well, what do you know?" Elsa said in a self-satisfied tone. "How many was that, Anna?"

Anna giggled. "A lot less that this guy."

"Okay okay, I'm defeated," groaned the ice harvester. "I may as well throw in the pick axe now and start searching for a new career."

"Don't be so dramatic," dismissed Kristoff, rolling his eyes. "Just get back to work."

Everyone did so, though the other ice harvesters kept nudging their friend teasingly; meanwhile, Elsa purposely ignored Kristoff's burning stare and handed Anna one of the pitchforks. Elsa mentally admonished herself while stabbing the ground with her pitchfork. She should have known better than to use her powers in public, but oh, did that sexist man irk her! Usually when Elsa's temper flared, she would whisk herself away into her secret room, which she kept separate from her bedroom. In there, Elsa would shoot her magic this way and that, releasing her pent-up frustrations in blasts of ice and snow until she was calm again. Elsa's magic room was always locked, but the door to her bedroom was open to Anna as well as her parents. This was the way Elsa had operated since her fateful confrontation with her parents. Even with the help of her magic room, however, it still took years for Elsa to let go of her fears and to balance out her relationship with her sister, her powers, and her training to be queen. The support from her parents and improved relations with Anna were good sources of therapy. The one promise that Elsa had made to her parents she had never broken, not even after their tragic passing: don't tell Anna about her powers. Elsa may have gotten a stronger hold of her magical abilities, but when it came to Anna, she wasn't going to take any chances.

* * *

"Shhh!" shushed Anna, who along with Kristoff was trying hard not to laugh as they snuck into what they hoped was an empty kitchen.

Their hope was confirmed a reality when they stepped inside, lured in by the smell of freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies.

"We're going to get in trouble for this," muttered Kristoff.

"No we won't," dismissed Anna. "C'mon, where's your sense of adventure?"

"The same place I left my sparkling wit and princely charm," Kristoff replied sarcastically.

Ignoring Kristoff, Anna reached for the platter of cookies, then stopped when she realized something.

"We don't have milk!" exclaimed Anna.

"Anna, who cares about the milk?"

"Chocolate-chip cookies are not work having unless you dip them in a glass of fresh milk." Anna gasped. "I wonder if Elsa knows if the milk delivery man came today. I'll go check!"

"Anna!" called Kristoff, but Anna was out the door before he could exhale the second syllable of her name.

Kristoff sighed and sat down on one of the kitchen stools, twiddling his thumbs until his friend returned. Unfortunately, a couple of the new kitchen workers came in, and Kristoff stiffened, thinking he had been caught. The girls, however, took no notice of him, as they were too busy gossiping and washing the dishes that they had been sent back to the kitchen for. Both of them were attractive young women, but Kristoff didn't concern himself with that - he only worried about when Anna was going to come back and devour the cookies with him. The kitchen workers' conversation drifted this way and that, until Anna's name caught Kristoff's ear.

"I don't understand why Prince Hans would go for Princess _Anna_ of all people!" exclaimed the brown-haired servant. "It would have made much more sense for him to court Queen Elsa."

"I know right?" responded the blond servant, scrubbing down hard on a pot coated with dried sauce. "If they married, he would become king of Arendelle."

"Not only that, but Queen Elsa has far more decorum and grace," added the brunette. "Princess Anna, on the other hand, is just an embarrassment to the royal family. She interferes with our work here in the kitchen, she runs around with some smelly reindeer man, and she can barely go a few minutes without tripping on air. She's a fool!"

At the moment the brunette uttered the last word of her spiel, Kristoff slammed his hand on the counter, startling the two servants. His right eye twitched and his face reddened with rage as he stared down the women before him. Looking at his massive height, broad shoulders, and muscular arms, the kitchen workers could definitely see the "mountain" in "mountain man." The blonde and brunette laughed nervously, wiping suds from their hands onto their skirts and avoiding eye contact with Kristoff.

"W-we were only kidding, Mr. Bjorgman," stuttered the blonde.

"No you weren't," growled Kristoff, "and I won't tolerate someone insulting my Anna."

Kristoff realized too late that he had said "my Anna" instead of "my friend" like he intended, but it was too late now and at any rate he was too busy raging to try to fix it.

"She may be a little clumsy and very, very stubborn sometimes," continued Kristoff, "but she is sweet, and spirited, and kind to everyone she meets. Of course Anna isn't like Elsa, she doesn't _need_ to be like Elsa because she's… well, she's the perfect _Anna_. And that's the end of that."

The two servants gawked at Kristoff for a few moments, before Anna triumphantly re-entered the room with two bottles of milk.

"Victory!" exclaimed Anna. "C'mon, Kristoff."

The anger oozed out of Kristoff's system and he grinned at Anna before guiding her out of the kitchen, saying "I'm right here with you."

* * *

"Did you really mean what you said?" inquired Anna when they had wiped away the last of the cookie crumbs and drunk the last sip of milk.

"What did I say?" asked Kristoff.

"You defended me to the kitchen staff while I was out getting milk," responded Anna.

Kristoff's eyes widened and he said urgently, "You shouldn't pay attention to a word they said!"

"I didn't," replied Anna with a bright smile. "But I did pay attention to every word _you _said. Thank you."

Anna slipped her thin arms around Kristoff's thick waist and embedded her face into his chest. Stunned, Kristoff returned the hug and comfortingly rubbed small circles on her back while they stood in a locked embrace.

* * *

**So now you know where the title comes from, haha!**


	6. Elsa is Exposed

**I really should be updating more often. Oh well. BTW, Kristoff was adopted by the trolls in this AU like in the canon Frozen movie.**

* * *

After what happened with Anna and the kitchen staff, Kristoff had nearly forgotten about the existence of Prince Hans. Unfortunately, he was reminded when the charming prince visited Arendelle to celebrate Anna's birthday a week early. Her celebration was to come later, but Hans had done so well in his visits to other kingdoms that he was being sent to Corona during that time. So, he came to surprise Anna one day when she was making ice delivery rounds in the surrounding area with Kristoff and Sven. Upon their return to the castle, Kristoff sagged while Anna gasped with delight at the sight of Hans. The smiling prince had a bouquet of daisies in hand (he must have brought them from somewhere warmer, because Arendelle was still too cold for blooming flowers). Anna ran towards Hans, with Kristoff close behind, and wrapped him up in a tight hug.

"These are for you," informed Hans grandly as he offered the bouquet to Anna.

"She's allergic to those," deadpanned Kristoff.

Han's eyes bulged and he looked at Anna, who shrugged apologetically.

"It's true," confirmed Anna, who sneezed when she caught a whiff of the flowers.

Hans hastily withdrew the bouquet. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right, I don't think I ever told you," reassured Anna. "I guess it just didn't come up until now."

"What's all the commotion?" inquired Elsa, coming out to the gate to see why she had heard excited sounds from Anna.

"Hans is here!" squealed Anna, clasping Hans' hand - the one that wasn't holding the daisies.

"Oh, she's allergic to those," informed Elsa, who took the bouquet from Hans (Anna was secretly grateful for the greater distance between her and the flowers).

"Yeah, I already told him," informed Kristoff.

"Els, can Hans stay for dinner?" asked Anna. "Please!"

"Oh, uh, all right," agreed Elsa, who turned to Kristoff. "Do you want to join us as well?"

"Um, well…" stammered Kristoff.

"I insist you come," asserted Elsa before Kristoff could say anything else.

Kristoff sighed. "Okay."

"Oh yay!" clapped Anna. "I get to eat dinner with my three favorite people in the world. This'll be so much fun!"

Both Elsa and Kristoff smiled weakly.

* * *

The smoke salmon tasted heavenly, but nevertheless Kristoff wasn't sure he'd be able to stop himself from vomiting it up at the sight of Hans and Anna. They were one of those annoying couples who couldn't stop talking about how adorable their partner was, or giggling incessantly at each other's unfunny jokes, or clutching each other's hands as if the world would end if they did otherwise. Even Elsa couldn't stand it anymore after a while, and dessert hadn't even arrived yet! Kristoff couldn't get out of his chair fast enough when Elsa suggested they go on a bit of a stroll around the castle.

"What do you think of Hans?" Elsa asked as soon as they were out of earshot of Hans and Anna, who were hardly aware that Kristoff and Elsa had left.

It was a dangerous question if there ever was one.

"What do _you_ think of Hans?" asked Kristoff, choosing the cowardly method and throwing the question back at Elsa.

"Well, he's very nice and polite," began Elsa, "and basically everything our parents would have looked for in a suitor for my sister…"

"But…?"

"I'm just… not sure if he's the one for her."

"Really?" asked Kristoff in a more enthusiastic tone than he would have liked.

"Yes," responded Elsa. "Sure, Hans is handsome, charming and a wonderful dancer, but I don't know if he's really what Anna needs. She needs someone who's kind and genuine, and maybe a little shy. Someone who might be rough around the edges, but on the inside is a total sweetheart. Someone who treasures her for being, well, _the perfect Anna_."

The emphasis she put on those last three words and the smile on her thin lips caused Kristoff to groan.

"Did she tell you about that?" asked Kristoff.

"Yes, she tells me everything," replied Elsa. "But she didn't need to for me to figure out that you have feelings for her."

"Whoa whoa whoa, no one said anything about feelings," protested Kristoff.

"Oh give it up, Kristoff," said Elsa. "You and I both know it's true. Why don't you tell her?"

Kristoff sighed. "What would be the point? We're just friends, and she already likes Hans."

"Maybe she'd feel differently if you told her."

"It's not happening, Elsa, I'm sorry."

"Don't say sorry to me," retorted Elsa.

Kristoff paused uncomfortably, but he couldn't think of an adequate response.

"Tell Anna that I had to leave early," Kristoff said finally, leaving behind a frustrated Elsa.

* * *

For Elsa, the next day was crammed with trading contracts to sign, dignitaries to appease, and arrangements to make for Anna's birthday celebration - all while trying to keep her emotions in check. It was days like these that Elsa especially needed her gloves, otherwise she was bound to blast someone with a flurry of snow or ice. Elsa was in her study filling out the first of an entire stack of papers, wishing she could shut herself in her bedroom and sleep but knowing that she didn't have time. The stress and fatigue were mounting so high, however, Elsa thought she would burst if she didn't make at least one snowflake as a reprieve from the muddle of words before her. Not thinking of the possibility of someone coming in unannounced, Elsa absent-mindedly pulled off a glove and began rippling her fingers, causing a cloud of glittery ice to appear in front of her. The glow of the magic reflected off of Elsa's cerulean eyes, and she sighed with contentment.

Meanwhile, Anna was walking down the corridor with a tray of lunch for Elsa. She had insisted to Gerda to take Elsa's meal that day, since she wanted to talk to Elsa about Hans (by then she had guessed that Kristoff didn't really want to hear her girlishly squealing about her beau). Anna stopped in front of the door to Elsa's study, momentarily wondering if she was going to interrupt anything. To be sure she wasn't, she leaned forward and looked through the crack of the slightly ajar door, only to see the last thing she could have expected. Elsa was in the middle of designing a snowflake, which hung in mid-air as she added piece by piece to the intricate web of ice. Anna stepped back abruptly and began hyperventilating at a thousand breaths per second. Elsa was magical? And she never told Anna! Anna thought they told each other everything, yet on the other side of that door, Elsa was unleashing the biggest secret of her life. Anna began racing down the hall, shoving the tray into a shocked Gerda's hands and trying hard not to let the tears fall from her eyes.

Normally when she was upset she would go to Elsa, but obviously that wasn't going to be an option at the moment. There was Hans, whom Anna had planned on seeing for a late lunch, but she needed someone to talk to now; at any rate, Anna wasn't sure about sharing such a huge secret with him yet. That only left one person, and Anna really really hoped that he was in the stables training the new stable hand like he said he was. She talked to the guards, who told her that Kristoff was indeed last seen with his reindeer and the worker-in-training. Anna then ran into the stables, where Kristoff was feeding a carrot to Sven and was talking amiably with his trainee. Kristoff blinked in surprise when he saw Anna, panting heavily and gesturing for him to come towards her. He excused himself and approached her with a countenance filled with concern.

"What's wrong?" asked Kristoff.

"We need... to talk," panted Anna.

"Okay, well go ahead."

"Not here."

Anna took Kristoff outside the stable and behind a large tree, pausing to catch her breath before she told him what she saw.

After she did so, Kristoff frowned and said, "You mean you didn't know?"

Anger crawled onto Anna's face. "_You did_?"

Kristoff put up his hands in a self-defensive maneuver. "Yeah, by accident. I was just a kid, and your family visited my family to get you help."

Anna was taken aback. "Why did I need help?"

"Elsa accidentally struck you with her powers," answered Kristoff. "You don't remember?"

"No, I don't," said Anna in a wounded voice.

Kristoff blinked several times, and though his mind tried throwing a hundred different things to say towards his mouth, it was a miss every time. So, he was still staring at Anna in amazement when a surge of determination rose up within her body. It took a few seconds for Kristoff to process the fact that Anna had started running back inside the castle, and when he did he shouted, "Wait, where are you going?"

"To find my sister!" Anna shouted back.

* * *

**I've always wondered if Kristoff figured out that Anna was the one he saw the trolls first use their healing magic on. This AU assumes that he did, and that he is fully aware of Elsa's powers before anyone else.**


	7. Magic Strikes

**Trouble is brewing for Elsa and Anna...**

* * *

Kristoff didn't know why Elsa hadn't told Anna about her powers, but he had a hunch that a confrontation between the two sisters would not be a peaceful one. So, without a thought's hesitation, Kristoff went after Anna, and after a few strides he was practically riding on her heels. Anna screeched to a stop in front of the door to Elsa's study, turned to Kristoff, and said, "Just give me a minute." Already beginning to count down the sixty seconds in his head, Kristoff nodded and stepped back while Anna walked inside. The tension in Elsa's muscles had eased and her face had relaxed into a content smile, when she heard the worst sound she could possibly hear at that moment: Anna clearing her throat. The sparkle in Elsa's eyes instantly dissipated and her face tightened with fear, even though she had stopped playing with her magic some minutes ago. She had the strangest feeling that -

"I know your secret," stated Anna in a low, hurt tone.

Elsa's chest tightened painfully. "What secret?"

"You know what I'm talking about, unless there are other life-changing secrets that you have been keeping from me."

Elsa sighed and stood up to face Anna eye-to-eye. "I only kept it from you to protect you."

"We're sisters," Anna reminded passionately. "We're supposed to be honest with each other!"

Elsa squeezed her fingers into fists, counting backwards from ten to calm her mind before replying in a cool voice, "I did what Mama, Papa and I thought best. The less you knew, the safer you were from me."

"But when they died… you could have told me…"

"No, I couldn't!" exclaimed Elsa, a spark lighting up her normally tranquil blue eyes.

"Why not?" demanded Anna. "Did you not trust me?"

"I didn't trust anyone, Anna."

Elsa's mind flashed back to the day, many years ago, when her father solemnly warned her, "People… aren't always so tolerant of someone who's different."

"Elsa, your magic is beautiful!" exclaimed Anna. "If you shared your secret, you wouldn't have to hide anymore."

"Yes I would!" cried Elsa, who along with Anna didn't notice the ice moving up the wall behind her.

Kristoff, however, did observe this when he snuck into the room at the end of his count down. Wary, he inched toward Anna from behind, ready to grab a hold of her and take her out of there in a split second.

"If you're so scared of people knowing about your powers, then why is it that Kristoff knew about them before _I_ did?" asked Anna.

Kristoff winced and thought, "_Please don't bring me into this…_"

Elsa's eyes made brief contact with Kristoff's before she replied, "However that happened was outside of my control, I assure you. If other people knew my secret, they'd see me as a monster."

Anna's hand whipped out and grasped Elsa's wrist with impressive agility and strength. "Show them, and you'll prove that thought wrong."

Elsa wrenched free of her sister's hold (leaving behind a glove in Anna's hand), and pinched her eyes shut to try to suppress her tears. With every shake of her head in refusal, snow whirled around her in a frenzy, but that didn't stop Anna from reaching out again. Anna had been deeply wounded by the years that Elsa had completely shut her out during their childhood, and had never quite gotten over it, even when Elsa had opened the door again. Anna was afraid that their relationship would revert back to those painful years, where Anna felt spurned by her older sister and had only the paintings in the halls to go to for companionship. Sensing a wall of stone rising up between them, Anna pressed harder and harder for Elsa to look at her, to talk to her, to be open with her for once in her life. Except she was pushing too far, and only Kristoff knew it. He placed his hands on her shoulders, but Anna shook him off and took another step towards Elsa.

"Anna, you really should go," urged Elsa.

"You don't have to protect me," assured Anna. "I'm not afraid. Please don't shut me out again."

Elsa groaned and clutched at her hair, pulling free a few strands from her braid.

"There's no escape from the storm inside of me," muttered Elsa.

"We can work this out together!" said Anna.

"I can't control the curse!" exclaimed Elsa.

"It is not a curse - "

"Anna, please, you'll only make it worse!"

A burst of blue magic sprang up from within Elsa, and Kristoff bit his lip nervously.

"Don't panic…" urged Anna.

"There's so much fear!" cried Elsa, covering her face with her hands.

"We'll make the sun shine bright."

"You're not safe here!"

"We can face this thing together," declared Anna, as she stepped closer to the crouched form of her sister.

Anna, so trusting and so true, how did she not know the danger lurking around her?

"We can change things for the better, and everything will be all right..."

"I CAN'T!" shouted Elsa, whirling around and standing up on her feet in one swift motion.

As she did so, the tornado of snow that had been spiraling around her expanded in an explosion of ice. Anna's eyes widened with fear, but before the magic could strike, she heard Kristoff desperately cry, "Anna!" before he flung himself in front of her. A flash of light erupted in the room, and when Anna opened her eyes again, Kristoff was on the ground shuddering with cold.

"KRISTOFF!" screamed Anna, falling to her knees and gripping the material of his shirt.

Elsa gasped in horror, and stared at her shaking hands as if claws had sprung from her fingers.

"Kristoff," Anna repeated in a softer, more fearful voice as she cradled Kristoff's head on her lap.

With monumental effort, Kristoff brought his hand to rest on Anna's and murmured, "Take me to the trolls." As soon as he said those words, his eyes closed and he fell unconscious, while Anna frowned confusedly.

"Trolls?" echoed Anna inquisitively. "What trolls?"

Elsa straightened and said, "I know what he's talking about."

Elsa ripped through the books on the shelves beside her desk, while Anna looked down worriedly at Kristoff. Finally Elsa exclaimed "Aha!" and pulled out a thick book with a dark green cover and slammed it onto her desk. After flipping through some of the pages, she found the map she was looking for, took it out, and called for Kai.

"Why are you calling for Kai?" asked Anna.

"Someone needs to help you load Kristoff onto his sled," explained Elsa, "and you know it can't be me. By the way, I need my glove back."

"Oh," muttered Anna, who hadn't realized that she still had it. "Sorry."

Elsa delicately took the glove from Anna and sighed. "No, I'm the one who needs to be sorry. Let's just worry about taking Kristoff across the fjord."

* * *

Wearing the gloves restored a few degrees of confidence to Elsa, so she was the one to take hold of Sven's reigns when everyone was properly set up in the sleigh. It was somewhat awkward having Kristoff's legs resting on her thighs (they had decided to stretch him out across the seat, with his head being carefully cradled by Anna on the other side). However, Elsa could hardly complain about that when Kristoff was apparently freezing to death and Anna looked ready to burst with sobs. With three people in the sleigh, Sven was making slower progress than usual, but since Anna refused to stay behind that couldn't be helped. Anna began stroking Kristoff's hair, partly to busy her nervous hands and partly to try to comfort him in his sleep. Kristoff groaned softly, and his head shifted so that his cheek pressed slightly against her hand. A tear dropped from Anna's eyes to his cheek, and Anna was quick to wipe it away, hating how cold his face was already beginning to feel.

"Anna," mumbled Kristoff, a smile pulling at his lips.

Anna smiled weakly and ran her fingers through his soft blond hair. "Please don't leave me, Kristoff."

Elsa bit down harder on her lip than she already was, and silently prayed that Anna wouldn't have to lose him - because even if she wasn't aware of it, she loved Kristoff more than she could ever love Hans. That was the simple truth.

* * *

**I used the lyrics from the reprise of "For the First Time In Forever" for the dialogue in Elsa and Anna's confrontation, since the song still fits pretty well in this alternate universe.**


	8. Meet the Trolls

**I'm on summer break, I should be updating everyday. But then I'm so lazy… You see my point of conflict?**

* * *

The path that they took through the forest became increasingly familiar to Elsa, causing flashbacks of that fateful night when it was Anna and not Kristoff in danger. Elsa didn't know how she was going to forgive herself for losing control a second time if Kristoff didn't make it. She didn't know how Anna was going to forgive her either, but she tried not to think about that too much. At last, they arrived at the open, moss-covered landscape where Elsa last remembered seeing the trolls. Elsa didn't like the idea of coming into more contact with Kristoff, but Anna needed help getting him down from the sled. Anna looked around and saw only piles of rocks around them, and thus raised her eyebrows at Elsa.

Ignoring Anna's inquisitive stare, Elsa shouted, "Please help us! Kristoff is in danger!"

Instantly, the rocks rolled along the ground towards the sisters - much to Anna's alarm as she gripped tighter onto Kristoff. The rocks lifted their heads, revealing themselves as the trolls that the sisters were looking for, and cried out in shock at the sight of the eerily still Kristoff.

"Kristoff!" wailed several of the trolls. "Where's Grand Pabbie?"

A troll with a yellow-brown mane, a forest green cloak, and a string of yellow crystals circling his waist stepped forward.

"I sense dark magic afoot," he stated solemnly.

Elsa bowed her head in shame and Anna replied, "Elsa accidentally struck Kristoff with her ice powers. Can you help him?"

"Hm," muttered Grand Pabbie, who pressed a grey hand on Kristoff's chest. "You're lucky it didn't strike the heart, or things would have been much more difficult. As it is the ice has hit very near the heart, so removing it will be, ah… touchy."

Anna instinctively thrust out her arm and squeezed Elsa's cool hand for comfort. Elsa looked up in disbelief, but Anna was too concentrated on Grand Pabbie to notice this. Grand Pabbie put his hands on the lower part of Kristoff's chest and breathed deeply as he pulled out the ice from within his body. After a few minutes, Grand Pabbie withdrew, and Elsa and Anna leaned in close to search for any signs of life from Kristoff. They gasped when Kristoff began to stir and his brown eyes fluttered open.

"Kristoff!" cried Anna, throwing herself on Kristoff and kissing every part of his face save his lips.

Elsa wanted to embrace him also, but hesitated, doubting that Kristoff would want her that close to him after what she just did to him. Kristoff's eyes bugged out in bewilderment, and although he was pleasantly surprised by Anna's multiple displays of affection, he needed to figure out what was happening. He sat up, slowly disentangling himself from Anna, and looked around at the relieved, smiling faces of the trolls, Elsa, and Sven (who licked Kristoff happily).

"What's going on?" Kristoff asked sleepily as he rubbed the underside of Sven's chin.

"You were hit with Elsa's magic, and Grand Pabbie just saved you," Anna explained delightedly.

Kristoff inhaled sharply, suddenly becoming aware of the sly grins the trolls (especially his adoptive mother Bulda) were shooting him.

"So… who's the young lady who was smothering you with kisses?" asked Bulda, gesturing to Anna.

Kristoff groaned, and Anna reddened.

"No, it's not like that," insisted Kristoff. "She was just really relieved that I'm okay. We're just friends."

Bulda didn't look like she believed him, but before she could say anything else, one of the younger trolls asked, "And who's the other girl?"

Kristoff's gaze turned towards Elsa, who squirmed uncomfortably until she felt the shocking sensation of his large hand enveloping hers.

"Elsa, don't feel bad," Kristoff told her comfortingly. "It was an accident."

Elsa pulled away her hand, panicked even though she was still wearing her glove.

"It was all my fault, really," said Anna sadly. "I pushed you too hard, and you lashed out."

"No, Anna, it was all me," protested Elsa. "It was my magic that hurt Kristoff in the first place."

"Elsa - " began Anna.

"It was neither of your guys' fault," asserted Kristoff. "So can you please relax and stop trying to win the guilt contest?"

Elsa and Anna nodded.

"Help me up, Sven," ordered Kristoff.

Sven obeyed, and Anna sent a reassuring smile Elsa's way; Elsa tentatively returned the smile and climbed onto the sled next to her sister. They waved goodbye to the trolls (Kristoff wanted to leave quickly, for fear of Bulda bringing up the touchy topic of him and Anna again).

After a few minutes of silence, Anna said, "So… that was your family?"

Kristoff chuckled. "You figured that out, eh?"

"Well, you said your family healed me when I was struck with magic, and the trolls clearly just did the same with you," pointed out Anna. "Plus, I could _definitely_ see the family resemblance."

Kristoff playfully shoved Anna, who couldn't stop giggling.

"How did you end up having trolls as your family?" inquired Elsa.

"Long story short, I was an orphan, they saw me, and they adopted me," answered Kristoff. "As you can see, they can be inappropriate… and loud. Very loud. They're also stubborn at times - like _someone _I know."

Anna pouted playfully, and Elsa suppressed a giggle.

"They're also a tad overbearing, and heavy. Which, you guys can see why, b-but, they're fine. They mean well - "

"Kristoff!" interrupted Anna, while Elsa tried harder to hold back her laughter with even less success. "I think they're wonderful."

"Y-you… do?" Kristoff asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, I mean they clearly care a lot about you," commented Anna. "And they're pretty cute, too."

"Like Sven?" Kristoff deadpanned, raising his eyebrows at Anna.

Anna grinned cheekily, remembering her first conversation with Kristoff all those months ago. "Yes, like Sven."

* * *

Kristoff was on forced bed rest for the remainder of the week, thanks to the orders of both Princess Anna and Queen Elsa. They put him into a cozy little room with a fireplace and a close location to the stables, should he be in the mood to see Sven. Kristoff wished he could go back to the mountains to harvest more ice (he had to earn his living, after all), but the royal sisters would hear none of it. Perhaps they weren't wrong to do so, because Kristoff was still slightly weak from the incident and, due to the ice hitting part of his stomach, felt queasy on occasion. Anna kept him on a strict diet of soups, high-starch foods, and herbal tea (which tasted horrible, but it did make him feel better). The fire was always blazing, and every time Anna visited the room she tossed another blanket on top of him, despite his many protests. In a way though, it felt nice to be this fussed about. One day Hans came into the room with Anna, and Kristoff forced a smile onto his face as he greeted him. Anna, bubbly as always, adjusted Kristoff's pillows, handed him his broth, and kissed the top of his head with a loud smack. Hans gave an odd look at the kiss, but Kristoff pretended not to take any notice as he shoved a spoonful of broth into his mouth.

"How are you feeling?" asked Anna.

"Great," replied Kristoff. "Are you going to release me yet?"

Anna clicked her tongue. "You already know the answer to that. The physician will give you one last check-up, and _then_ you're free to go."

"The physician has given me at least ten 'last' check-ups," Kristoff deadpanned.

"Psh, you're exaggerating," dismissed Anna.

"Not by much," muttered Kristoff.

"Oh, I forgot your herbal tea!" gasped Anna, causing Kristoff to internally wince. "Be right back." Anna turned to Hans. "While I'm gone, the two of you can chat and get to know each other better."

Hans nodded mechanically and made a polite smile at Anna before she kissed him on the cheek and left. Kristoff's eyes darted to the right and to the left, while Hans crossed his arms and whistled an indistinct tune.

"So…" said Hans at last.

"So…" echoed Kristoff.

There was an awkward stretch of silence, and Kristoff gulped down another bit of broth.

"Did you and Anna ever date?" blurted out Hans.

Kristoff spat out the broth he had just put in his mouth (Anna _and_ the maid were going to kill him for staining the sheets). He coughed for several moments before he had recovered himself enough to speak.

"I-I'm sorry, that was not an appropriate question," Hans apologized bashfully.

"Why would you even ask that?" Kristoff questioned in amazement.

"It's just… she seems so _affectionate_ with you."

"She's affectionate with everybody."

"Yes, granted but…" Hans inhaled a large breath. "You know what? I'm just being paranoid. It's just that I like her _a lot_, and I don't like the thought of losing her to anyone else."

"I understand the feeling," replied Kristoff quietly.

Hans nodded. "So, just to ease my nerves… nothing is going on between you and Anna right?"

"Um - "

"Okay, I've got the tea!" announced Anna proudly as soon as she burst into the room.

"_Wonderful timing, Anna_," Kristoff thought gratefully.

"We'll leave you to rest now," said Anna, grasping Hans' hand and waving goodbye to Kristoff before exiting.

Hans gently squeezed her hand, causing Anna to smile and to begin swinging their arms together.

"Do you think I'm the perfect Anna?" asked Anna brightly.

Hans made a confused frown. "Perfect, Anna? I don't know if anyone's perfect. After all, there always seems to be room to improve oneself."

"Well, yes, but that's not exactly what I meant," replied Anna.

"Then we must have a different understanding of the word 'perfect,'" shrugged Hans. "At any rate, I believe that even though we might not quite reach it, we should all strive to be as perfect as we can. At least that's what I've learned from my family - and competing with a dozen older brothers. When you're a royal, you can't really afford to make mistakes."

Anna was quiet, which, after a few moments, made Hans uncomfortable.

"Hey, liven up," urged Hans with a gentle nudge. "We are about to have the most spectacular of all dates, after all."

Anna smiled, but if Hans knew her better, he would have realized that her eyes didn't smile along with her lips.

* * *

**Poor Anna… She only meant that being the "perfect Anna" meant that she didn't have to pretend to be like Elsa, not that she never made mistakes. And Kristoff totally shares my extreme dislike of tea… we're connected that way!**


	9. Anna's Birthday

**Ba-bam, chapter nine!**

* * *

"Kristoff?"

Kristoff, decked in his ice harvesting gear once again, turned around and saw Anna tugging on her braids. He smiled naturally and opened his arms wide to show off his attire, which he had been aching to wear for the past week.

"You look good," giggled Anna. "Are you glad to be in the clear?"

"Definitely," answered Kristoff. "Oh, before I set off, I have something for you."

Anna ran the next few steps between her and Kristoff as he dug into his sack for a white paper package.

"I bought this in town yesterday for your birthday," began Kristoff, "but if you don't like it, I can just give it back to the merchant - "

"Oh Kristoff, just give it to me already!" Anna urged impatiently.

Kristoff chuckled and offered the gift to Anna, who immediately ripped it open to reveal a dark pink bobble hat; it was exactly like the one Kristoff was wearing right now, save for the color. Anna gasped and beamed up at Kristoff, who was ducking his head to hide his embarrassed blush from her.

"I figured since you liked to steal mine so much, I should get you your own," mumbled Kristoff bashfully.

Kristoff was referring to the numerous occasions that Anna would sneak up behind him, snatch his hat off his head, and run around until Kristoff caught her. The sound of her squealing laughter whenever he did catch her made the trouble of running after her worth it.

"I love it," cooed Anna, stroking the hat as if it were a pet. "But I'm still going to take your hat whenever the mood strikes me."

"Please don't," begged Kristoff, though he really didn't mind.

Anna put the hat on and grinned. "How do I look?"

"_Beautiful, amazing, stunning - _"

Before his brain could spit out any more adjectives, Kristoff said cheekily, "Cute."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment or what?" asked Anna. "With you, I can't be sure."

"And I hope you never are," Kristoff responded, patting Anna on the head condescendingly.

She shoved him, causing a laugh to sputter from his lips.

"Thanks for the hat," Anna said sincerely.

"You're welcome."

"I uh, actually wanted to talk to you about my birthday - specifically about the little shindig we're having at the castle."

"Yeah?"

"I know you're anxious to get back on the mountains, but I was wondering if you could put it off a little longer for you to come and… be my escort." Kristoff opened his mouth to respond, but Anna continued hurriedly, "Of course if you don't want to be my escort that's fine too, you can just come as a guest and I'll come by myself. After all Elsa isn't going with an escort, but I thought it might be nice for us to go together, since Hans is out of town and can't be my escort. I mean, you would have been invited in any case, but… you can be my escort tomorrow night if you want to."

Anna took a deep breath as soon as she finished her blathering, and Kristoff raised questioning eyebrows.

"Are you finished?" he asked amusedly.

"Yeah - wait!" Anna paused. "Yeah, I'm finished."

A smile broke out on Kristoff's countenance. "I'd love to be your escort."

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Anna, clapping her hands together. "Don't worry about what you'll wear, I've got it covered."

"Do you really?" asked Kristoff. "Had you just assumed I would say yes?"

"Hoped, more like it," replied Anna shyly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

To distract herself from her awkwardness, Anna sifted through the items in Kristoff's sack and pulled out a carrot. She grinned at a Kristoff, took a large bite off the end of the carrot, and offered it back to him. Kristoff blinked a couple of times and tried to process the fact that _Anna_ was attempting to participate in the Kristoff, Sven, and carrot ritual. With Sven looking excitedly back and forth between the two, Kristoff slowly took the carrot from Anna's hand and bit off another piece of the carrot. Sven stretched out his neck, grabbed the remainder of the orange vegetable, and gobbled it down, but Kristoff and Anna were hardly aware of this; they were too busy staring at each other.

"_A girl gives him one carrot, and he's falling all over her,_" Kristoff could hear Sven say in his mind.

"_More than that, I think I'm falling _in love_ with her_," Kristoff mentally responded in awe.

* * *

Anna should not be allowed to look this beautiful. No really, wasn't Elsa concerned about her little sister attracting the attention of guys with bad intentions? There needed to be a law against how pretty Princess Anna could look. Kristoff didn't care if such a law would make no sense; it _needed_ to be implemented. That way, he wouldn't be in situations like this, where he's looking at her with that slim blue dress, those flushed red cheeks and those smooth pink lips and wanting to kiss her so, so badly. Even if it meant having those ugly red sideburns, Kristoff would switch places with Hans in a millisecond so he could call Anna his.

"How do I look?" Anna asks uncertainly.

Kristoff cleared his throat, hoping that his voice wasn't going to crack, and replied, "You look wonderful."

Anna blushed as crimson as Kristoff. "Thank you."

Kristoff offered Anna his arm and said, "Shall we?"

Anna curled her fingers around the inside of his elbow and answered, "We shall."

The two friends braced themselves and approached the open doorway to the ball room, where Kai stood to the side, ready to announce them.

Kai smiled at the pair, turned to the crowd, and declared in a loud, resonating voice, "Presenting Princess Anna, and her escort Kristoff Bjorgman."

There were a few murmurs around the crowd (Kristoff assumed it was because they had been expecting Prince Hans as Princess Anna's escort) as they walked in among them. People to their left and to their right bowed grandly, but all Kristoff could afford was an awkward nod of the head in return. Anna prodded him towards the snack area, and Kristoff thought "_Of course_" with an affectionate roll of his eyes. It took a total of three seconds for Anna to stuff chocolate into her mouth until her cheeks had chipmunk status, which was impressive even to Kristoff, who usually had a pretty large appetite. The music began to play, and Kristoff was contemplating whether he should ask Anna to dance or be a coward and simply cram chocolate into _his_ mouth. However, he didn't have a chance to decide before Kai announced, "Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles!"

Anna squeaked, which was barely discernible through the load of chocolate in her mouth and the applause going on around them. Kristoff grabbed a napkin from the table, held it out, and commanded "Spit out the chocolate before he comes!" Anna quickly did so, though she regretted letting the chocolate go to waste, and wiped her mouth hurriedly as she watched her beau approaching. Kristoff, with his nose crinkled in disgust for reasons besides the chewed up chocolate in his hands, walked off to throw away the napkin. Hans beamed broadly at Anna, bowed at the waist, and extended his hand to her. Anna, gawking, accepted it, and was soon pulled onto the ball room dance floor by Hans.

"What are you doing here?" she asked breathlessly. "I thought you were in Corona!"

"I might have told a little white lie so I could surprise you," winked Hans.

"But you already surprised me by coming early for my birthday."

"Let's just say," drawled Hans, "that I wanted to make an even bigger surprise tonight."

Meanwhile, Kristoff sagged next to a column and watched the disgustingly cute couple stare at each other with adoring eyes as the spiraled across the dance floor. Suddenly he felt a presence beside him, and Kristoff realized that it was Elsa, who was smiling sympathetically at him.

"Hey," greeted Kristoff in surprise. "I thought you weren't going to come after… well, you know."

"I wasn't," responded Elsa, "but as you know, Anna can be very persistent."

Kristoff snorted. "Yeah, I do know it. I'm glad you're here, but are you doing all right?"

Elsa nodded. "You and Anna have been very forgiving, and she pointed out that shutting myself away will probably only make my fear of people worse. Besides, it's her birthday, and it's important that I be here to support her."

"I'm proud of you," beamed Kristoff before pulling Elsa into a firm embrace.

Elsa made a muffled grunt of surprise, but after a little hesitation she slowly returned the hug.

Elsa hastily rubbed her eyes when they broke the hug and said meekly, "Thank you."

Kristoff nodded. "I think Anna's right though, about revealing your powers. You should do it one day, when _you're_ ready to."

Elsa smiled faintly. "I'll think about it.

After a few quiet moments, Kristoff asked impulsively, "Do you want to dance?"

"It would be my honor, Sir Bjorgman," accepted Elsa with a graceful curtsy and a broad smile.

Kristoff and Elsa continued talking amiably as they danced (somehow Kristoff even got her to laugh), which Anna did not fail to notice. She made several missteps when she looked over Hans' shoulder to observe her sister and her friend chatting it up like they had known each other for years. Anna's glossy lips were slightly pursed and her eyebrows were drawn downward in the tiniest possibly frown, which Hans noted with some concern.

"_What could they be talking about?_" thought Anna. "_And what's so funny?_"

"Sweetie, are you all right?" inquired Hans.

"Hm? Me?" asked Anna distractedly. "I'm fine. I just noticed that Elsa and Kristoff are dancing… Kristoff never likes to dance."

Hans glanced briefly at them and nodded. "Well he's dancing tonight."

Anna nodded indistinctly, but she went on watching the pair every chance she had. Hans, who was getting a little frustrated, tried several times to start a conversation, but to no avail.

"Anna!" exclaimed Hans, startling Anna into returning his gaze. "I said, would you mind if we stepped off the dance floor? I want to make an announcement."

Anna blinked, and timidly complied to Hans' wishes. Hans dropped his hands from Anna's waist and signaled for the musicians to pause; when they did so, everyone turned to look at an excited Hans and an awkward Anna at the end of the ball room. Kristoff suddenly had a bad feeling grip onto his gut.

* * *

**Oh snap, it's a cliffhanger. You must _hate_ me right now.**


End file.
